In a state television show broadcast on Sunday, Xiao Yi, a high provincial official who was ousted from his position in 2021, apologized for ‘conducting acts irresponsibly’, amid being discovered to have purported Bitcoin mining-related scums. After Beijing promised to tighten down on Bitcoin mining, Xiao became the most senior Chinese official to be reprimanded.
In a state television news story on Sunday criticizing his wrongdoings, the former government employee in China’s southeast Jiangxi province who was fired in 2021 for misusing his position to assist cryptocurrency mining apologized for being a “sinner” and bringing “severe damages” to his city.
Yi helped disguise a Bitcoin miner as a cloud-computing firm
According to a China Central Television (CCTV) program, Xiao Yi, a former vice-chairman of the Jiangxi provincial committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the former Communist Party chief of Fuzhou city, assisted a local cryptocurrency mining company in disguising its operations by passing itself off as a big data and cloud computing company.
Xiao gave Jiumu Group Genesis Technology instructions to “perform” when other government officials visited and inspected the company, which he used as an example of the regional digital economy. In 2018, China began to take action against cryptocurrency mining. According to the reports, the company ran 160,000 cryptocurrency mining equipment from 2017 to 2020, accounting for 10% of Fuzhou’s total power usage.
Xiao urged appropriate government agencies to falsify figures and modify the categories to which the company’s power consumption was placed to conceal the company’s power use. According to the official broadcaster, he also assisted the business in obtaining 2.4 billion yuan (US$354 million) in government finance, which included loans and financial guarantees.
There is more dirt to Xiao’s name
The report is the most detailed public description of Xiao’s wrongdoings since he was fired from his position and the Communist Party in November 2021. At the period, a declaration from the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection and the National Supervisory Council accused Xiao of breaking the country’s industrial rules by assisting enterprises engaged in Bitcoin mining operations.
This inquiry also found Xiao guilty of receiving bribes and attending banquets, which may have jeopardized his ability to perform his responsibilities. He was also found to have exchanged authority for money and sex. He used his position to favor individuals close to him in personnel promotions and project contracting in return for the property.
While Bitcoin mining uses a lot of electricity and generates a lot of pollution and trash, the CCTV show claims that it “contributes relatively little” to employment, industrial growth, and technical innovation.
According to the research, cryptocurrency might also be used to avoid regulatory inspection and undertake unlawful activities, threatening financial security. Xiao was the highest-ranking Chinese official to be penalized for his support for Bitcoin mining, delivering a clear message to local cadres about Beijing’s attitude on the matter.
